25
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of "korekta" and when to use it?
The word "korekta" is derived from the verb "korekti", which means "to correct". Therefore its only regular meaning is "characterized by or related to the act of correcting". For example, one can say "...
- 8,259
21
votes
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Isn't “kio la fek” grammatically wrong?
To me this is a clear anglicism. These kinds of anglicisms sometimes gain some popularity quite fast, because their English equivalents are vastly understood also by non english natives. The people ...
- 6,328
19
votes
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How do I know when a verb is transitive?
Unfortunately one has to memorize this. But it is not as hard as it seems. You already have to memorize the precise meaning of a verb and transitivity or intransitivity is part of its meaning. The ...
- 1,490
19
votes
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Should I ever use the pronoun "ci"?
You should use ci about as often as you would use thou in English. Or less.
The purpose of ci was to provide an alternative, singular form of vi for use in translations (or pseudo-translations), when ...
- 13.7k
18
votes
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What is the difference between "flari" and "odori"?
I can explain the difference with a simple sentence: "Mi flaras la floron. La floro odoras bone."
flari: to sense a smell released by something with one's nose (the subject is a person)
odori: to ...
- 3,107
17
votes
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When to use "olda" instead of "maljuna"?
olda is a neologism which can mean either maljuna or malnova like the English word "old".
It appears in the dictionary Simplaj Samsignifaj Vortoj which is a list of recommendations about good usage ...
- 16.9k
17
votes
Should I ever use the pronoun "ci"?
In the Unua Libro (the first book about Esperanto from 1887), ci doesn't appear at all. Later Zamenhof introduced it in order to be able to render in translated works the distinction that most ...
- 8,259
16
votes
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How do you say "hang out" in Esperanto?
I like to use the word umi. It has a nice slang feel to it whilst still being formed from an Esperanto root. PIV has the following definition:
umi (fm) Fari ion ne precizigitan: kion vi umas?; ni ...
- 16.9k
16
votes
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How do I say "black people" respectfully in Esperanto?
There is a danger in importing sensitivities from our national cultures because in cases like this, sensitivity varies so much. I think nigrulo is fine - and if it's not fine, I would hope that people ...
- 21.2k
15
votes
Accepted
How does one say "It's all Greek to me" in Esperanto?
From here (but I’ve also heard it explained from people somewhere, maybe Evildea, if I’m not mistaken):
Ĝi estas por mi volapukaĵo.
Which comes from the other constructed language Volapuk which is ...
- 6,028
15
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between "gajni" and "venki"?
"gajni" comes from the English "to gain", and has more or less the same meaning as "to gain", i.e. it generally expresses the idea of receiving something. You can use it to translate "to win", ...
- 8,259
15
votes
Accepted
How do you use the word "ĵus"?
From Vortaro:
ĵus
Cirkonstanca morfemo, signifanta "momenton antaŭ nun" aŭ "antaŭ tiam.
A circumstantial morpheme, meaning "a moment before now" or "before that time".
Examples:
The sixth hour ...
- 1,234
14
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between -ita and -ata?
-ita means that something has had something done to it, while -ata means something is having something done to it.
For example, if I call someone mia amata filo, that means that he is my son whom I ...
- 3,759
14
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between "violkolora" and "purpura"?
They are definitely not the same, PIV defines purpura like this:
Havanta la koloron de la purpuro
PIV defines purpuro like this:
*purpur/o:
1 Violruĝa kolorilo, kiun la antikvuloj eltiris el ...
- 11.1k
14
votes
Accepted
When should I use "tio" and "tiu"?
Use tio when you don't know the nature of what you are pointing or if you don't want to mention its nature. (By "nature", I mean every kind of concept, such as cars, dogs, ideas ...)
You can read "...
- 11.1k
14
votes
How do you use the word "ĵus"?
Ĵus applies to time. For your example, it would be "Li ĵus alvenis." However, ĵus does not apply to "merely." For the other example, you should say, "Mi simple deziras iom da pico."
- 1,859
14
votes
Accepted
Difference between 'da' and 'de'?
The notes in the Duolingo lesson you refer to
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/eo/Da_De
are actually very useful, they start off
Although both da and de can be translated into English as of, they ...
- 1,772
14
votes
Accepted
Ebleco, eblo aŭ eblaĵo?
Ni diskutis tiun demandon dum NASK ĉi-jare. Mi konvinkiĝis pro la klarigo de Bertilo Wennergren ke la ĝusta vorto plej ofte estas "eblo", dum multege da esperantistoj, pro nacilingva influo, tro uzas "...
- 21.2k
13
votes
How common is the "-iĉ-" suffix to denote maleness?
First note that only about 30 roots in Esperanto have an explicitly male meaning. These are mainly the familial roots like "patro", "filo" and "edzo", nobility roots like "reĝo" and "princo" and a ...
- 8,259
13
votes
How does one say "It's all Greek to me" in Esperanto?
"Ĝi estas por mi volapukaĵo."
Is a great way of expressing this.
"It's all Greek to me." means that something is not understandable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_to_me
Historically, Esperanto ...
- 8,117
13
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between "krom" and "escepte"?
Your two sentences mean the same thing. However, krom means "besides", and as a result there are situations in which it could mean both "except" and "as well as".
Mi ...
- 13.7k
13
votes
Accepted
Why does "devus" translate as "should?"
This is explained well in PMEG:
La verba finaĵo US normale montras, ke temas pri nereala, imagata ago. Sed la verbaj formoj povus, devus kaj volus havas tamen specialan signifon. Plej ofte ili ...
- 8,259
13
votes
What is the difference between "kio" and "kiu"?
kio = what
Examples:
Kio estas tio? → What is that? (Is it a dog? Is it a cat?)
Kion vi deziras? → What do you want? (A pen? An ice-cream?)
kiu = which [one of a group, type, etc.] or who
Examples:
...
- 6,028
13
votes
Accepted
Why is it "kiom strange" instead of "kiel strange"?
According to PMEG:
La tabelvortoj kiel kaj tiel montras ne nur manieron, sed ankaŭ gradon. Oni uzu ilin en la samaj lokoj, kie oni povus uzi tre:
Vi estas tiel bela, tiel bona kaj tiel ...
- 6,028
12
votes
Are the words "volapuko" and "volapukisto" used as derogatory terms in Esperanto?
An article was recently published (in Interlinguistica Tartuensis IX, 2009) concerning Esperanto insults, which included a list of a few dozen recorded from the late 1980s. A reviewer commented:
...
- 13.7k
12
votes
What is the difference between "kio" and "kiu"?
They are definitely not interchangable.
Trying to literally translate them to English you would end up in
kio = what
kiu = which
A rule that I find quite useful is
If it stands with a nounish word, ...
- 6,328
12
votes
Accepted
How can one express "to save" in Esperanto?
savi — to rescue from danger or preserve from the threat of loss; to provide salvation to
savi ion al iu — to rescue something for someone
ŝpari, rezervi — to conserve, to save up (money, time, etc)
...
- 13.7k
12
votes
Accepted
Kio estas la diferenco inter 'nura' kaj 'sola'?
La vorto nura esprimas nesufiĉecon; la vorto sola esprimas foreston de kunuloj.
Li ne estas viro. Eĉ kun nia helpo, la tasko estos malfacila por nura knabo.
Li staras ekster la lernejo sen aliaj ...
- 13.7k
12
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between "ĉiu" and "ĉiuj"?
According to PMEG:
Oni uzas ĉiu, se oni konsideras la individuojn aparte.
Oni uzas ĉiuj, se oni pensas pri la tuta grupo kune.
I.e. ĉiu corresponds (for the most part) to "each" and ĉiuj to "all". ...
- 3,171
12
votes
What is the difference between the interjections "ĝuste" and "prave"?
They are as interchangable as ĝusta and prava. As you hinted at, ĝusta refers to being "correct" in the sense of being "appropriate" while prava refers to being "correct" in the sense of being "true":
...
- 3,171
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